


On The Shelf

by khilari



Category: Nameless: The one thing you must recall
Genre: Gen, life as dolls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-03-30
Packaged: 2018-03-18 04:30:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3556091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/khilari/pseuds/khilari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Eri gradually acquires a doll collection and Lance acquires more company than he ever wanted.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Yeonho

‘I’m home.’ To Lance, waiting in her bedroom for her return, Eri’s voice sounds listless. But it always does these days and it doesn’t carry the catch that means she’ll be clinging to him and crying as soon as her shoes are off. Her day at school must have gone well.

He listens to her take her shoes off and walk to the bedroom and then she kneels down in front of the shelf, eye to eye with him. ‘Hi, Lance.’ She looks tired but she smiles at him, eyes brightening. ‘How was your day? School was tough.’ Her smile falters. ‘Ah, I don’t want to do homework.’

Lance’s owner is not the most diligent of students, but she doesn’t want to do homework because every time she gets stuck it reminds her that she can’t go to her grandfather for help. Sometimes she sits Lance on the edge of her desk for moral support, or so she can complain to him about difficult problems, but it’s not as if he can explain things to her.

‘Let’s go online for a bit instead. I want to see if anyone is selling nice dolls’ clothes second hand. Do you want to come and look too since I’m buying for you?’ Her hands scoop him up, warm and soft, and Lance is carried across the room to her desk where she carefully poses him in a sitting position, knees against his chest and one arm draped over them. She’s very deft now — he remembers when she’d been both more tentative and more clumsy and he’d wound up with limbs all over the place. ‘Wait for me a moment, I’m just going to change out of my school uniform and get the laptop set up.’

Lance is glad he’s already been set up with his back to her before she changes for once. It’s not her fault, but it’s so embarrassing, and it’s not as if he can look away. The laptop is soon set down next to him with a thud that shakes the desk slightly. Eri sits down and moves him slightly, then turns his head so he’s looking at the screen, stroking a disarranged lock of hair back over his shoulder afterwards.

‘Haha, you look so intent,’ she says. ‘I’m glad I bought those eyes for you, they really suit you. So pretty.’

The laptop starts up and Lance watches images cross the screen as she opens the internet and starts searching.

‘What do you think of this jacket? It would look good on you.’

 _’I like anything you buy me, but how much of this month’s allowance have you spent already? You need to eat something other than bread for lunch more than I need a new jacket.’_ She can’t hear him, of course, but he says it anyway. Too much of her allowance has been spent on dolls’ clothes lately — she used to buy sweets for her grandfather, now she buys clothes for her doll, but her grandfather could have told her not to spend money she needs for herself.

‘Oh, second hand dolls!’ Her mouse hovers over an auction of a Davi. There are a few auctions of Lance-types showing on the screen as well, Lance wonders if they’re being sold for money towards more interesting dolls. It’s to be expected, after all, he was sold to her as a good starter doll. That doesn’t stop it hurting. ‘What do you think, Lance? We could do with a bit more company.’ He can’t turn away from the screen to look at her, but he can hear the tears in her voice.

If another doll would make her feel less lonely… and she said “we” so it’s not as if he’s being replaced. Not really.

‘You guys are so expensive, even second hand,’ she complains after scrolling for a while. The screen keeps pausing as she stares anyway, enjoying looking at other dolls even if she can’t afford them. ‘Oh!’ She clicks on “buy” for this one almost as soon as she opens it, sloppy pictures of a Yeonho with cute, delicate features and large eyes. There were a few of them in the shop so Lance has seen them before, they’re not as common as his own type, but not a rare edition either. ‘I can’t believe that was so cheap! Such a pretty doll.’

_’Cheap is relative. How much of your allowance did you just spend?’_

‘I guess I won’t be buying anything else except food this month, though,’ she says as if answering him.

* * *

Lance is listening to the splash and clatter of Eri doing the washing up in the kitchen when the doorbell rings. There is a larger splash as she lets whatever she was holding fall back into the bowl and then the patter of her feet as she runs to the door.

A moment later she screams and Lance feels a moment’s utter panic — _what was she doing opening the door so carelessly, she lives alone, it could be anyone, oh god, is she hurt?_ — before her voice thanking someone breaks through his racing thoughts and he realises she just screamed in joy. Thank goodness, but what just happened?

The door closes and he hears Eri walking around, talking softly. Whoever was outside the door didn’t come in — no second pair of footsteps — and he doesn’t think she’s on the phone. It is, he realises, probably the new doll. Water starts splashing again — she was that happy about a new doll and she’s gone back to doing the washing up? He can still hear her voice. Maybe she’s set the other doll up to talk to while she does housework. It seems unfair.

Finally Eri’s footsteps approach the bedroom and she throws open the door. ‘Yeonho, this is Lance.’ She kneels down in front of the shelf, still cradling the new doll in her hands. Yeonho is naked, she hasn’t dressed him yet, and wet. Judging by the matted state of his wig Eri probably had to clean him. There are scuff marks all over his body as if he’s been kicked around the floor and more deliberate cuts up his arms that could have been made with a craft knife. ‘Lance, this is Yeonho, you’re older so you have to be nice to him, okay?’

Eri lies Yeonho down on the shelf next to Lance. Yeonho whimpers, _’M-master,’_ as soon as her hands are no longer in contact with him. It’s been a long time since Lance heard another doll’s voice. He’s more glad than offended that Yeonho’s entirely focussed on Eri and barely seems to have registered his presence. Certainly he wouldn’t know what to say.

Eri is rummaging through the box of dolls’ clothes. ‘I should buy you some clothes of your own. Lance’s clothes will fit you since you’re both R-line, but I don’t know whether they’ll suit you. You probably need something cuter… but maybe this… and this…’

_‘I’ll try to look good in them, Master. I’ll wear anything you want me to. So please, please, keep me. I’ll be good… I’ll be really good…’_

Eri picks Yeonho up to dress him and pauses for a moment, stroking the matted hair as if she can sense how much he needs calming down right now. It’s shocking for Lance to realise what _second-hand_ really means. He’d been thinking of this as Eri’s new doll, he’d been scared of being replaced or abandoned, but for this doll those things have already happened.

Eri tries on one thing after another, new combinations of clothes that had been Lance’s until today, smiling happily as she gets more into it. Once she’s found a combination she likes she grabs the camera and Yeonho is so awestruck at her wanting pictures he’s completely silent for a while. Eventually Eri sets him on the shelf beside Lance, carefully posing him with his knees tucked up and his arms around them. Lance isn’t facing him, but he can see the other doll out of the corner of his eye. She sits back and smiles at them, eyes bright with happiness, then stands up and goes back to her neglected chores.

 _’Master?'_ Yeonho cries softly. _’Master, where are you going? Why are you leaving me?’_

 _’She’s only gone to do the washing up.’_ It’s the first time Lance has spoken to someone who can hear him and he’s not sure it’s a very good start.

_‘Huh? W-washing up?’_

_’To clean dishes.’_ This is inane and not particularly helpful. It’s not as if Yeonho is really concerned with whether Eri is cleaning dishes. Lance is meant to be nice to him, it would help if he had some idea how.

‘ _Master_.’ Yeonho’s crying. Not tears of course, any more than they speak words, but Lance can hear sobbing.

‘ _Stop crying,’_ he says and, when Yeonho does with a startled gulp, ‘ _that was the happiest I’ve seen her in months._ ’

‘ _Really?_ ’ Yeonho’s voice is soft but, for the first time, not scared or tearful.

Lance doesn’t repeat himself, but Yeonho seems to have calmed down anyway. Maybe that will do for now.

* * *


	2. Red

It’s a beautiful summer day and birds are chirping on the windowsill, which always seems to send Yeonho into a reverie. The room is full of sunshine, dust golden in the air.

Eri’s cheerful, ‘I’m home,’ is followed by her running through and throwing the window open. The air flows in from outside, bringing with it the scents of cut grass, car exhaust, flowers, as if the whole world has rolled into their little room. The chirping of the birds outside is clearer now, even as they flit away from the windowsill, but Yeonho’s attention is on Eri.

 _‘Welcome back, Master,’_ he says quietly as she kneels in front of them. They have a couch, now, an elegant, old-fashioned piece of furniture, a miniature of the kind of thing Eri’s grandpa would have liked.

‘It’s so lovely out there today,’ Eri says. ‘I wish I could take you guys out there, I’d get some lovely photos, but I’d be embarrassed. Maybe I’ll take some photos in here, it would be a shame to waste this light. I’ll just check my email first.’

 _‘…She’s happy,’_ says Yeonho, sounding almost awed.

 _’She is.’_ She’s moved from grieving to trying too hard, as if happiness is some kind of duty, but today she seems genuinely light-hearted.

‘Oh. Oh, wow.’ There are stars in Eri’s eyes as she stares at her laptop, leaving Lance wishing she’d put him somewhere he could see. Is this another limited edition? She’d fallen hard for the Tei-type a little while ago but, for all her scrambling to save money, failed to buy one before it sold out. ‘Listen to this!’ She pushes her chair back and turns towards them. ‘I’ve been selected to test a new M-line prototype before they decide whether to release it. Red.’ She tries the name out in her mouth as she says it, the way she’d once tried Lance’s. ‘He’s a superhero concept… don’t you think that’s a bit weird for Crobidoll? But he looks so cute in the pictures.’ She turns back to the screen. ‘It’s at the showroom near here — maybe that’s why they picked me — so it won’t be hard to get there.’

Lance remembers the showroom. Packets of hands and feet, strings and tools, boxes of identical dolls. Now Eri’s going there to meet a completely unique doll, even if she won’t get to keep him.

* * *

Eri comes back from the Crobidoll showroom tired but smiling. ‘It was amazing,’ she confides in them. ‘It wasn’t a big group, but I’ve never met other doll fans in real life before. It was really nice talking to them. Even if some of them were older, or had bigger collections.’ Her smile looks a little sad for a moment as she reaches out to stroke Yeonho’s hair and Lance wonders who hadn’t been impressed by a basic Lance-type and a second hand Yeonho. ‘Most of them were really nice, though! I learnt a lot. One of them had even seen my blog.’ She brightens. ‘I’d never held an M-line doll before, it’s only three and a half centimetres but Red seemed so much bigger than you. The concept is still a little strange, but I really loved Red once I got to play with him. I just want to put him in action poses.’ She laughs. ‘Maybe I’ll get one if they bring them out, as long as it’s not another limited edition.’

Eri’s excitement over her part in Red’s development lasts for a while and she checks the forums for news of his line daily. When the news finally breaks that Crobidoll are not releasing the Red-type due to a lack of interest she sinks down in front of Lance and Yeonho with a sigh. ‘Maybe it’s silly to be sad about it,’ she says. ‘But I feel like he deserved to be loved. And now he won’t get the chance.’

Eri cheers herself up with a photoshoot and Lance doesn’t give the Red-type doll much thought. A prototype, never intended to have an owner, probably wasn’t even given a soul and Eri’s participation in his development is in the past. So he’s no more prepared for the parcel that arrives a few days later than Eri is.

She wanders into the bedroom looking stunned, dragging a large box with one hand and holding a doll carefully in the other. Unlike Lance himself this doll has come out of the box fully dressed, in some strange asymmetric outfit. Eri kneels down in front of the shelf and sits the doll on the edge of it. ‘This is Red,’ she says. ‘He’s… um…’ While she rummages in the box Lance inspects the doll now sitting in front of him. ‘He’s been sent to me as thanks for participating in the testing… I was chosen at random from among the testers… hope I enjoy this unique doll.’ She sits back on her heels and beams at Red. ‘Hi, Red. Do you remember me from the test group? I’m sorry you didn’t get a whole line made, but I really liked you. I’m really lucky to have a doll like you.’

 _’I’m lucky to have an owner like you, too!’_ Red’s voice is cheerful and loud. This doll, then, does have a soul. He’s a person, and the only one with his concept, as unique as any human.

‘It’s a good thing you came with your own clothes,’ Eri is saying. ‘Because I don’t think I have any that would fit you. Maybe some of the looser ones, but for now I’ll get some photos of you in that.’

When Eri’s finished her photoshoot she arranges Red kneeling behind the couch, arms folded on it between Lance and Yeonho, and takes a moment to stroke his hair back into place before leaving to do her chores.

 _‘Hi!’_ Red says, as soon as she’s gone, still annoyingly cheerful. _‘I’m Red, leader of superheroes. Welcome to the team.’_

 _‘I’m not a superhero,’_ says Lance. _‘And I’m definitely not on your team.’_

 _‘Huh? Why not? We could save the world together,’_ Red says. He’s very definitely been implanted with a strong concept, but not much in the way of common sense.

 _‘I’m Yeonho,’_ says Yeonho quickly. _‘And this is Lance. Pleased to meet you.’_

 _’Pleased to meet you too,’_ says Red. _’Have you seen any villains around here?’_

 _'V-villains?'_ Yeonho asks.

_’People who hurt the innocent or helpless. Or try to destroy the world.’_

_’Um, I-I don’t…’_ Lance wonders whether Yeonho’s just confused by this approach to the world or whether he’s thinking of knife marks he couldn’t dodge. The innocent and helpless, is anyone more helpless than a doll?

 _‘And what would you do if there were villains?'_ Lance snaps.

 _’I’d realise my special powers and protect people!’_ The answer is far too confident for something so ridiculous.

 _’Has it escaped your notice that we are dolls?’_ Lance asks, frustrated with Red, frustrated with memories (‘I’ll be fine on my own, Lance will protect me’). _’You can’t even move. Protecting anyone would be impossible.’_

_’Even if I’m a doll, once I realise my special powers I’ll be able to do anything I need to do. My creator told me all I have to do is believe.’_

_’That’s so cool, Red,’_ Yeonho breaks in.

 _’Yeonho, don’t believe ridiculous things. Nothing will happen just because you believe,’_ Lance tells him.

 _’Ignore him,’_ says Red. _’You can fight evil with me even if he won’t.’_

 _’A-aaah.’_ Now that they’ve made it impossible to please both of them Yeonho sounds on the verge of tears.

Lance sighs. _’Yeonho, it is none of my business if you wish to play along with him. But I don’t want to hear about it.’_

 _‘Okay, Lance.’_ Yeonho sounds brighter straight away.

It’s very unlikely Lance will get his wish not to hear about it with all of them living on the same shelf, but it may keep the racket down a little.


	3. Tei

Eri develops a habit of watching television with the three of them, sitting them in a line on the couch beside her. Sometimes she seems genuinely into the show she’s watching, other times it seems to just be background noise and she spends more time talking to them. Red likes cartoons, especially ones with superheroes of any kind, although Eri doesn’t care for them much so he doesn’t get to watch them often. Lance prefers documentaries — the television is a window into a wider world but, most of the time, a very unreliable one.

Today it’s a cooking show and Yeonho is getting excited about strawberry cheesecake. _‘Doesn’t it look delicious?’_ he says, eagerly.

 _‘I prefer chocolate, but it does look good,’_ says Red.

 _‘Chocolate’s good too,’_ Yeonho agrees. _‘What do you think, Lance? Don’t you think it looks tasty?’_

_‘I do not.’_

_‘Huh? Why not? Don’t you like strawberries?’_ Yeonho asks.

Lance takes a last look at the screen before it cuts to something else. The strawberries are pretty, but he can’t connect them to any idea of flavour. _‘It makes no sense to have preferences in a sense I do not have.’_

 _‘You’re so boring,’_ says Red. _‘It’s impossible to speak to you.’_

 _‘I’d be relieved if you stopped trying,’_ Lance retorts, trying to smother hurt under irritation.

Eri interrupts them as the advert break begins. ‘Can you believe they’re advertising stuff for Christmas already?’ she asks. On the screen strings of lights criss-cross a department store. ‘Christmas… is going to be really different this year.’ She reaches for Lance, curling herself up so that she can perch him on her knees, hands still wrapped around him to hold him steady. They’re at eye-level like this and her eyes are wet. ‘Do you remember last Christmas, Lance? With the cake and presents… oh.’ She lets go of him with one hand so that she can scrub a sleeve over her eyes. The hand still holding him trembles and his view of the room shakes slightly as it moves him.

There are times when it’s beyond frustrating to be inanimate. Lance wants to reach out to her to… touch her, offer her a handkerchief, hug her. Something. Anything. He doesn’t even know, he just knows she shouldn’t be feeling this alone.

‘My parents might not remember to call,’ she says, quietly. ‘I mean, they might be too busy, even on Christmas, and I don’t want to bother them if they are. But I don’t want this Christmas to just be sad. There’s no one to buy me presents now, or to spend it with me.’

 _‘We’ll be with you, Master,’_ Yeonho whispers. _‘I’d buy you a present if I could.’_

‘Maybe I’ll buy myself a present.’ Eri strokes a hand over Lance’s hair absently as she thinks. ‘At least then I’ll have something to look forward to.’

* * *

It quickly becomes clear that Eri’s idea of a present for herself is going to be a doll. She browses them dreamily when she’s not preparing for her last set of middle school exams. In the end she settles on a doll from the adult line, a Yuri.

‘He’s so cool,’ she tells them. ‘He looks like he’d be fun to take pictures of.’

It cheers her up as Christmas adverts appear more and more and as she worries about starting high school in the spring. The thought of a new school makes her nervous, even though she knows the principal. Lance thinks he might know who the principal is, although he’s not sure he’s thinking of the right person. A deep voiced man, someone heard but not seen, who visited sometimes when Eri’s grandpa was alive. Someone more talkative than either Eri or her grandfather. It’s not much to go on.

Then one day Eri goes from browsing the internet with them on the shelf to saying something excited about destiny. A few minutes later she kneels down in front of them, smiling widely. ‘Can you believe it? I just bought a Tei!’

Didn’t she already spend all her money on the Yuri? She looks so happy, but what is she going to eat?

The answer turns out to be ramen. Lots and lots of ramen. Yeonho starts daydreaming about being able to cook for her, Lance thinks it would be more useful for someone to tell her to save money.

* * *

The first they know about the Tei’s arrival is when Eri walks in and kneels down with him held almost reverently in her arms. There’s a depth to Tei’s green eyes that tells Lance this doll, too, has a soul, although he can’t begin to guess at what he’s thinking.

‘Everyone, this is Tei. Tei, I’ll introduce you.’ Eri settles back on her heels slightly and holds Tei up to them. ‘The doll with silver hair is Lance. He was my first doll and he’s been here more than a year already. The doll with yellow hair is Yeonho, he’s second-hand like you.’ Second-hand? Of course he would be, the Tei-type was a limited edition, there are no more new ones on sale. But he looks pristine. Lance has to look closely before he sees the scratch across one knee, quite deep but not very large. Enough for someone to get rid of a limited edition? ‘The one with red hair is Red. He’s a superhero and an M-line doll like you. We’re going to borrow some of his clothes.’

She sits Tei on the edge of the shelf and reaches for some clothes. Red takes the opportunity to say, _’Hi! Welcome to our base.’_

 _’…Thank you.’_ There’s an odd feeling for a moment, a sense that this new doll is thinking a lot more than he’s saying. It’s an improvement on Red, who tends to do the opposite.

Then Eri picks Tei up to dress him and take pictures. When she’s satisfied she returns him to the shelf, but hesitates before posing him. ‘Sorry, Lance,’ she says, picking him up and moving him to kneel behind the couch, shifting Red along to make room for him as she does. Tei gets his place on the couch, opposite Yeonho, carefully posed until he looks natural there.

 _’Hello,’_ Tei says when she’s gone. _’I’m sorry, I seem to have taken your spot.’_

 _’I do not mind.’_ It’s not entirely true, but it’s not Tei’s fault.

 _’H-hi,’_ Yeonho says shyly. _‘I’m pleased to meet you.’_

 _’You too,’_ says Tei. He pauses for a moment and adds, unnecessarily in light of how at ease he seems, _‘You’ll have to bear with me for a while. My previous owner didn’t store me near other dolls.’_

 _’That sounds pleasant,’_ says Lance. _’This shelf gets too noisy.’_

 _’Hmmmm.’_ There’s an odd inflection to Tei’s voice again. _’I’ll try not to make it more so._ ’

 _’I’d appreciate it,’_ Lance says.

 _’I’m sorry, Lance,’_ Yeonho says.

 _’Don’t be. You are not the noisy one,’_ Lance answers.

 _’I don’t know why you’re always making such a fuss about being noisy. All we can do is talk, do you really want to sit here in silence?’_ Red asks.

_’It would be preferable to listening to your nonsense.’_

_’All right,’_ Tei breaks in, _’I’ve had enough of silence for a while, but it will get too noisy if you fight. Why don’t you tell me about our owner?’_

 _’She’s really nice,’_ says Yeonho. _’She talks to us a lot and plays with us and takes photos, oh, and she likes rabbit patterns, hehe, and she picks flowers in the summer.’_

 _’Does she live here alone? She seems too young,’_ says Tei.

Lance answers. _’She used to live here with her grandpa. He died nearly a year ago. Her parents are abroad and don’t visit much, they wanted her to go with them when he died, but she wished to stay.’_ They’d made her cry, trying to convince her to leave, when she was already crying more than enough. _’They do not listen to her.’_

 _’Huh? But didn’t they let her stay when she wanted to?’_ asks Red.

 _’That is not the same as… nevermind.’_ Giving in to someone isn’t the same as trying to understand them, but Lance doesn’t want to talk about it. He should not have brought it up.

 _’So she’s really on her own,’_ says Tei.

 _’She has us,’_ Red answers.

 _’Yes,’_ Tei says softly, almost to himself. _’She does.’_

* * *


	4. Yuri

Eri gets back late on Christmas Eve and walks into the bedroom with half melted snow still clinging to her hair. There’s a bag in her hand, the shape of a large box showing through it, and she sets it in the corner before flopping down on the bed.

‘The adult line is heavy,’ she says, to no one in particular, before getting up again to draw the curtains and change for bed. Shortly afterwards there’s the familiar scratch of her pen as she writes in her diary.

 _’Is… she just going to go to bed?’_ Yeonho asks.

 _’She bought the new doll as a Christmas present to herself, so she’ll probably open it tomorrow,’_ Lance replies.

 _’But… but she’s just going to leave him in a box?’_ Yeonho sounds distressed and Lance waits for Tei to respond. It’s been a relief having him here, he’s much better at dealing with Yeonho’s anxiety or Red’s tendency to get overexcited than Lance ever was.

 _'I understand why you don’t like it,’_ Tei says gently. _’But it’s only for one night and he would have been in a box in the shop anyway. He’ll be fine.’_

 _’I don’t like boxes,’_ Yeonho whispers.

 _’I don’t either,’_ says Tei. _’But we already know she won’t leave him in there, he’ll be on the shelf with us in no time.’_

 _’I wonder what he’s going to be like?’_ says Red. _’I’m excited to meet him! Have any of you met an adult doll before?’_

 _’I haven’t, and I don’t think Lance would have had the chance,’_ says Tei.

 _’Uh, I sort of have. I-I mean I’ve seen bigger dolls. My previous owner had a lot of dolls, but none of the big ones were crobidolls or had souls, so I didn’t really meet them,’_ says Yeonho.

 _’What about the smaller ones though?’_ Red asks.

_’Ah, some of them,’ _Yeonho says uncertainly.__

_‘That’s so cool! So you had friends before you came here,’_ says Red.

 _’Ah, hehe, they weren’t exactly friends, things were more…’_ Yeonho’s voice drops to almost inaudible. _‘…competitive.’_

 _’Huh?’_ Red just sounds confused.

 _’Because anyone could be the favourite the next day.’_ Yeonho’s voice sounds dull, as if all expression has been leached from it, but when he continues it’s in his usual tone. _’But things are different here! Master takes care of all of us and Lance was nice to me right from the start.’_

 _’Huh? Really?’_ Red’s surprise is verging on insulting.

Lance sighs. _’That’s because Yeonho is not annoying like some people. Anyway, I didn’t do much.’_

 _‘That’s not true!’_ protests Yeonho. _’You told me I’d made Master happy and that’s all I ever wanted to do.’_

Eri stirs in her sleep, murmuring something in her dreams, and they fall silent watching her.

* * *

On Christmas morning Eri wakes up early without an alarm.

‘Aaaah,’ she stretches and rubs her eyes and then turns to them with a smile. ‘Good morning! Merry Christmas!’

 _’Merry Christmas!’_ Yeonho and Red call back, sounding as excited as she is.

Eri beams at them almost as if she heard and then lifts the box from yesterday onto her bed and sits down to open it. The doll she carefully lifts out is bigger than Lance had expected, even though he knew the size in centimetres of the B-line from Eri’s online browsing. The proportions are different, too. Red and Tei are just bigger, but otherwise similar to Lance and Yeonho’s build, this doll is built a bit more like a human and with muscles sculpted on.

‘Merry Christmas, Yuri,’ Eri says, holding Yuri up to meet her eyes. She stays still, admiring him, for a few minutes and then puts him down on the bed and comes over to the drawers. ‘I got you a wig, but I couldn’t afford clothes for you just yet. I think some of these M-line clothes will just fit and I’ll get you some of your own once my allowance comes,’ she explains to the doll behind her. ‘I’ll just get you dressed and then I’ll introduce you to the others.’

She takes her time dressing him, humming Christmas carols under her breath, but, to Lance’s surprise, she doesn’t take photos afterwards. Maybe she’s waiting until she does have a new outfit for him?

‘This is Yuri,’ she says, kneeling down in front of the shelf with him. ‘Yuri, this is Lance, Yeonho, Tei and Red.’ She lifts Yuri onto the shelf and turns him around, posing him to sit in front of the couch with his legs dangling over the edge of the shelf. ‘You look good together,’ she says. ‘Somehow… the five of you really feel like a set. Like my family is complete now I’ve got all of you by my side.’ Her gaze is wistful for a moment as she loses herself in some reverie. ‘Ah!’ She stops spacing out and snaps back to the present. ‘I thought earlier, since it’s Christmas, I think we should have a party to welcome Yuri properly. I’ve got some things to set up for it, so you guys get to know each other for now.’

The shower can be heard soon after she runs out of the room, so whatever she’s planning she’s remembered to wash and dress first.

 _'Hmph,’_ says Yuri. _’Five minutes into my new home and already I’m wearing someone’s cast offs. Still, a party does sound good.’_

 _’Humans need to eat,’_ says Tei. _’It’s selfish to want her to spend more money on you than she already has, so please don’t start off by complaining.’_

 _’No offense to our lovely owner,’_ says Yuri. _’But the adult line requires high fashion to complement our exquisite looks.’_

 _’What’s so good about the way you look?’_ Red asks.

 _’I suppose a cherry boy wouldn’t understand,’_ says Yuri. _’But I shall answer your question. To begin with there is —’_

They’re saved from what promised to be a highly annoying catalogue of Yuri’s good points by Eri coming back into the room wrapped in a towel and halfway through drying her hair with another. She swiftly sheds both, throwing them onto the bed before opening her closet.

 _’Our owner is lovely indeed,’_ Yuri murmurs appreciatively.

 _’Do not look,’_ Lance snaps, hot with embarrassment.

 _’Hmm. Do you think I can look away?’_ Yuri asks.

 _’That is… there is a difference between not being able to help seeing and looking.’_ Lance wishes he could look away. This is always embarrassing, but Yuri’s making it so much worse.

 _’But she has so many lovely features.’_ Yuri’s voice is playful, as if he’s enjoying making this worse. _’Truly, she is blessed by the goddess of beauty.’_

 _'I-I agree,’_ says Yeonho earnestly.

 _’Yeonho! Do not say such things,’_ Lance says. It’s bad enough from Yuri.

 _'Huh? But, don’t you think she’s pretty, Lance?’_ asks Yeonho.

 _’Not when she’s… that-that is, it’s all right to think she’s pretty when she’s dressed, but not when she’s naked. Ahem.’_ Fortunately Eri has finished putting her clothes on while they’ve been talking and Lance manages to regain some composure. _’We may not be able to help seeing such things, but there is no need to comment.’_

Eri darts out the door to the bedroom and this time it’s the sound of kitchen cupboards being flung open that follows.

 _’Do you think she’s cooking food for the party?’_ Yeonho asks.

 _’It does sound that way,’_ says Tei.

* * *

It’s midmorning when Eri comes to fetch them and, to Lance’s surprise, she leaves Yuri on the shelf. The living room smells of cake and there’s a little smear of cake mix at the corner of Eri’s mouth where she hasn’t noticed it. In the living room she sets them down in a corner and then goes back to fetch doll props and a camera, along with pens, scissors, and coloured paper.

‘So, we’re going to have a Christmas party,’ she says, ‘First we have to get ready and set it up.’

She’s already half lost in her own world, in the story she’s telling herself about them and how she plans to present it on her blog. It’s a world they only partly enter with her — she tells these stories with them, not to them, talking in half sentences and keeping most of what she intends in her own head — but it’s also the time they mean the most to her.

The coloured paper becomes tiny paper chains, Eri pausing in making them to set up shots of them half finished in Yeonho’s hands. How can someone as clumsy as Eri be so deft with something on their scale more than hers? The quill set, one of the first things she bought Lance, is brought out to get pictures of him writing a Merry Christmas banner that she inks herself. ‘Sorry, Lance, your handwriting would be neater than this, but it’s the best I can do,’ she murmurs. Red and Tei are photographed tacking the banner and paper chains to the walls, stretching to reach, turning their little corner of the room festive.

The oven timer breaks in and Eri knocks Tei over jumping up, bending down to pick him back up with a quick apology before going to rescue her cake. They catch glimpses of her setting cupcakes on a cooling rack and then she looks at the clock and starts getting herself lunch.

After lunch she takes Tei out to the kitchen with her for a while and Red asks, _’What were you doing out there? We couldn’t see you properly,’_ when she brings him back.

 _’Decorating a cake,’_ says Tei. _’I am intended to be good at cooking, so maybe it seemed like the kind of thing I would do.’_

Eri brings their couch out next, setting it up in the corner, but has to improvise on a table, opting to cover a tissue box with an embroidered napkin. She quickly sets it with tiny plates and tea cups and folds little squares of red paper into triangles to look like napkins by each plate. Once she’s satisfied with her arrangement she goes to fetch Yuri.

 _’It’s sweet that you’ve put so much effort into welcoming me,’_ Yuri teases as Eri poses him arriving.

 _’It was the owner’s idea so don’t flatter yourself,’_ says Tei.

Eri, oblivious, poses them greeting one another.

Tei appears to be the host of their party; he’s the one posed pouring tea and bringing in the cake. It’s a cupcake with the edges trimmed, iced like a full-sized cake and really quite convincing. Eri even cuts slices of it for them and hands it out on plates.

* * *

By evening they’re back on the shelf. Eri’s happily sorting through all the photos she’s taken for which ones she wants on her blog while eating the rest of the cupcakes. Lance feels oddly tired, almost as if he’s really been at a party instead of just being posed and played with. It’s not so bad, though, kneeling in his place with the sounds from outside muffled by snow and Eri humming Christmas carols again with her mouth full.

 _’She’s really going to post pictures of me in this outfit?’_ Yuri complains. _’I suppose I can make anything look good.’_

 _’It was a nice party,’_ says Yeonho. _’I-I hope we all look good.’_

 _’Of course we do!’_ says Red.

Tei adds, _’It seems like Eri thinks so.’_

That’s the important thing, isn’t it? Tei and Yuri don’t even know how miserable she’d been at the thought of Christmas just a few months ago. Now she’s got through the day without tears, without even having to force a smile. It’s been a long time, now, since the days when she’d cling to Lance and cry herself to sleep. Maybe he misses it a little, selfishly, knowing she needed him. But he’s never wanted her to be unhappy.

For tonight it feels like maybe she won’t be, maybe the worst is past even if she’s still grieving. She has her blog, her imagination, and her dolls.


End file.
